About the Courses

The Method Actor’s Training Centre is unique. Not only is it the only acting school we know of in South Africa that specializes in Method Acting but each student also receives individual attention in each training session. In order to achieve this, the classes are kept small so that students may develop in-depth understanding and technique under personalized supervision as quickly as possible. Aspirant actors do not become invisible due to being part of a large group. We train ARTISTS!

The Method acting course is based on the techniques developed by Lee Strasberg, who was one of the pioneers in the USA who brought about the real, believable acting methods we know today. He based his techniques on the results obtained by the great Russian director, teacher and actor, Constantin Stanislavsky, throughout a lifetime of research and experimentation.

Marlon Brando, Steve Buscemi, Chris Cooper, James Dean, Benicio del Toro, Johnny Depp and Robert De Niro are but a few more male actors. Ellen Burstyn, Salma Hayek, Helen Hunt, Bridget Fonda, Angelina Jolie, Sissy Spacek and Sally Field are some of the female actors you may know.

Unlike the usual drama training obtainable in South Africa, The Method trains actors to experience sense memory (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell and overall sensation) and express the response freely and fully in order to give a truthful, real performance time after time. Actors learn how to employ sensory recall and emotional memory in order to recreate situations, relationships and emotions from their own lives truthfully. This enables them to express real emotion as the character, rather than indicating a response by pushing for an end-result. Students also receive training in teaching and directing skills. Method Acting is a process that develops over a three- to four-year period of time.

The fun and creative Introduction to Acting Course for beginner actors covers the practical techniques generally employed by drama schools in South Africa and also instructs students in scene writing and storytelling.

The Method Certificate and Performance Diploma courses would suit matriculated students who want to acquire in-depth acting- and directing skills and who possess strong cognitive, verbal, linguistic, communication and analytical abilities.

Acting is Believing

The successful stage performance is a feat of artistry that has been carefully planned for the purpose of communicating with the greatest possible effectiveness the meaning of a particular play to an audience. Charles McGaw

[Stanislavsky] arrived at a kind of comprehension or logic of what takes place in acting, and thus he was able to outline suggestions, areas of training, and exercises for training, so that what actors do can be more conscious, less dependent on things that just happen and that most actors are not even aware are happening. Lee Strasberg at The Actors Studio

The Method Actors' Training Centre is a private, professional acting academy owned and operated by the Director, Stephanie van Niekerk, since 1991 until the end of 2017.